Iowa
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About Iowa
Iowa is one of the big agricultural states of the United States. For tourist Iowa is a great state with many State parks, historic settlements along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and wide planes.
Good to know
- Capital: Des Moines
- Climate: Iowa has a continental climate, with brisk winters with common snowfall and hot and humid summers, with daytime temperatures at 38° C and above.
- Timezone: UTC -6
- No. of inhabitants: 2,954,451 (2004)
- Travel alert: EnjoyYourWorld strongly advises you to take necessary precautions for a safe travel. For more info please follow this link
Highlights
- Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum near West Branch
- The Amana Colonies with German "Gemütlichkeit" in seven quaint villages, founded 150 years ago by German pietists. Try to visit the ‘October-Feste’
- Vesterheim Norwegian American Museum in Decora, the largest museum in the USA of any single immigrant group
- Dutch Windmill Pella is home to the wooden shoe and tulips and the worlds largets wooden windmill constructed in The Netherlands and shipped to Iowa
- If you have a chance go and visit the Iowa State Fair at Des Moines in August
- Hannibal with the birth place of Mark Twain
- Effigy Mounds National Monument-a prehistoric Indian burial site at Marquette with 18 km of hiking trails, tallgrass prairie and wetlands.
- Fort Dodge Historical Museum-a copy of the original fort built by colonists
- DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, located near Missouri Valley in west central Iowa.
- Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge, located in northeast Iowa along the Mississippi River.
- Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge and Prairie Learning Center, near Prairie City in central Iowa with prairie where you can encounter buffalo and elk.
- Port Louisa National Wildlife Refuge near Toolesboro-a natural haven for wildlife in southeast Iowa
Getting Around
- If you are in a hurry takes one of the two Interstate highways: I29, I35, I74, I80, I129, I235, I280, I380, I480, I680
- If not try the scenic byways
- The Loess Hills Scenic Byway takes you to the spectacular natural landscaping of the Loess Hills region of western Iowa, a fragile place of unique prairie flora and wildlife, farms and villages.
- The Lewis & Clark Trail-America’s epic journey takes you to nature preserves and historic parks along this historic trail. Try to visit Sioux City’s Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center.
- The White Pole Road takes you through a beautiful Iowa countryside, linking the communities of Dexter, Stuart, Menlo, Casey and Adair with historic attractions and a marker where the notorious Jesse James Gang is believed to have committed the world’s first moving train robbery.
- Dragoon Trail-a 360 km corridor along the Des Moines, Boone and Raccoon rivers, takes you to interesting destinations like Lake Red Rock, Ledges State Park, the Kate Shelley High Bridge and Dolliver Memorial State Park.
- The Mormon Pioneer Trail from Nauvoo, Illinois, across southern Iowa and onward to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, following in the footsteps of tens of thousands of Mormons
- Great River Road National Scenic Byway-one of the most famous scenic and historic drives in the United States, covering 520 km roads next to the “Old Man’s River”.
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